Posting it separately here in case one of you gets hit with one. I know all of you geniuses on LGP are too smart to fall for it, yet it must be a shock when a message like that pops out on your screen. btw, a friend of a friend got so scared by one these things, he paid a few hundred dollars to what he thought was the police dept. in California.

Computer users around the globe are being hit by a new kind of virus that freezes their computer and accuses them of committing heinous crimes, like distributing child porn. The threats sound real enough that victims are coughing up $200 to pay a "fine," and virus writer gangs are netting millions, security firms say.

The malicious software is so cleverly crafted that it comes with 30 to 40 versions packed inside. It displays in the appropriate language for victims — English, Spanish, Russian, etc. — and invokes the local federal authorities. A U.S. victim might get a notice from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, while a Canadian victim gets one from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Most victims pick up the virus by visiting booby-trapped web pages that surreptitiously install software on victims' machines through "drive-by” download, or by downloading free software from disreputable sites. In fact, some variations of the virus accuse victims of violating copyright law, knowing that is likely true.

Yeah, I had this happen to me 4-5 years ago. A poorly worded popup on the screen said it was the FBI and needed my passwords and bank account numbers. The hackers also said "Watch this" and reset my modem from afar. I flipped out, shut the computer off, rebooted with the Windows disk and reformatted it on the spot. To this day, it freaks me out.

I have no idea what was downloaded/sites visited, but wife liked watching TV shows on random streaming sites (which she still does, but haven't an issue since then).

I enjoy playing online Flash games (Konregate site) while waiting in airports or hotels and wonder if those may be a cause since the games aren't from actual websites, but are actually hosted on a site like Kongregate.

This is where a full-drive revert app like the kind I've been using for years now comes in handy. It works underneath Windows and you can launch it before Windows loads, enabling you to restore your pc to 100% of a saved snapshot, fixing up any and all changes. I have mine set to once a day, and I also manually make one when I'm trying out demos or before going to dangerous websites.

Sarcastic wrote:This is where a full-drive revert app like the kind I've been using for years now comes in handy. It works underneath Windows and you can launch it before Windows loads, enabling you to restore your pc to 100% of a saved snapshot, fixing up any and all changes. I have mine set to once a day, and I also manually make one when I'm trying out demos or before going to dangerous websites.

Rollback RX. I previously used Roxio's GoBack, which was later taken over by Symantec. Rollback Rx is much more efficient and works every bit as good, taking the pc back to 100% of how it was in seconds. No pc slow down at all while working.

Sarcastic wrote:This is where a full-drive revert app like the kind I've been using for years now comes in handy. It works underneath Windows and you can launch it before Windows loads, enabling you to restore your pc to 100% of a saved snapshot, fixing up any and all changes. I have mine set to once a day, and I also manually make one when I'm trying out demos or before going to dangerous websites.

You can even go on a dangerous website, get a virus attack and get messed up, still want to keep a file you got, put the file into a folder you specified in the setup, then revert. All's back to how it was.. but you still have that file or files. I completely rely on an app like this. And as I said, it restores the disk to 100%, unlike that crappy Windows Restore thing.

Sarcastic wrote:This is where a full-drive revert app like the kind I've been using for years now comes in handy. It works underneath Windows and you can launch it before Windows loads, enabling you to restore your pc to 100% of a saved snapshot, fixing up any and all changes. I have mine set to once a day, and I also manually make one when I'm trying out demos or before going to dangerous websites.

Doesn't that kill your performance?

GoBack did a whole lot... it would slow down the pc when you were downloading or installing (as it made copies of each file created or deleted or modified). Ya, big slowdown.

Rollback RX works in a different method, taking a snapshot instead. No slowdown whatsoever.

btw, I also use, in addition to NOD32 (best antivirus/trojan/malware that I know of), someting called OnlineArmor. It basically won't let you do anything without it's approval. It won't let you run a program or install anything unless you click to allow it (and the program's system files as it typically asks for them individually). It's also a great in/out software firewall to have in addition to a router. The free version is good enough for most people. They really keep it updated too, as it seems like I'm getting auto updates daily. I think I'm pretty well protected...